parker1

I need some advise about a buck that I shot the other night. The buck crossed the field and entered the wood line coming right passed my stand. When it was 23 yards broadsides I grunted and stopped the buck. I released the shot and saw the arrow strike the deer. The hit looked to be a little back but still in the rear lung or at worst liver area. It was the perfect height. The buck bolted and it appeared that the fletching was still sticking out. I felt the shot was at worst one lung because I had to go higher then normal because my tree was very open. I was at about 26 or 27 feet up. The buck crashed through alot of timber for about 40 yards and then just got completly quiet. I got down and looked for the spot where I hit him but could not find it due to it getting dark so I left for the night. The next morning I found where the buck was standing and then I found the arrow lying on the ground about 8 feet from the impact. It was not stuck in the ground but laying on top the ground. There was alot of fatty type tissue and some hair on the arrow. The fletching did have blood but it was like a stringy blood. It was definitly not the look of a good pass through. The acc arrow was pretty good as well. I searched for this deer for two days and only found a little blood for the first 80 yards and even then it was only where I think he stopped and stood. I am thinking that since I was high in the tree and the buck was close that maybe the arrow did hit him where I thought but kicked off a rib and went straight down only peircing the hide and maybe some of the ribs which would exlain the fatty tissue and poor blood evidence on the arrow. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen? I was using a Slick Trick 100 4 blade head shooting a Bowtech MM at 72" and 278 FPS so energy isnt a problem. Any imput would be appreciated.

Justin

Unfortunately, even with the height you were shooting from I would have to say it's very unlikely that your arrow ricocheted off a rib and only penetrated fat and hide, especially if you have blood on the fletching and saw the arrow sticking out of the deer. Chances are you hit him exactly where you thought - a little far back and maybe a little high. Quite often a hit like that doesn't bleed well because there's only one hole where the arrow entered, and no exit hole. I would be willing to be the arrow went in and then got pushed back out as the deer ran through the brush. The fatty or slimey feeling on your arrow could very well be from a gut hit, even though you think you should have at least gotten one lung. That rear lung/liver/diaphragm area gets pretty tight in there and what looked like a good shot at the time might turn out not to be that way in the end.

Just becuase you didn't have a great blood trail doesn't mean the hit was non-fatal. I've double-lunged deer before that left little to no blood trail at all, and I've single-lung/liver shot deer before that bled like crazy. I think it really depends on exactly what veins and arteries were cut when your arrow entered the animal. Sadly enough, from what you describe it sounds like a fatal hit, just a bad blood trail.

parker1

Thanx for the reply. I wasnt real concerned about the lack of a blood trail because I have seen that happen before as well. The one thing that bothers me was that some of the stringy type blood was covering the fletchings as if the arrow went all the way through the deer and not back out of the deer. And if it did go through the deer why wouldnt there have been good blood on the flecthing. The arrow had no gut smell or slime on it so I really doubt it hit gut at all. I guess I will never know unless I see the deer again.